Floods In Italy

[Coast]

Some serious mudslides and flash flooding in the North of Italy with over 50cm of rain falling in 24 hours this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgIVYeICWgk

Flailing through mounds of sludge left by torrential rains, rescue workers cleared debris and hunted for survivors in Tuscany and Liguria on Wednesday after mudslides and flooding left at least six people dead and

In some towns, videos showed, streets had become canals, furniture was piled pell-mell outside homes, bridges were swept away, highways were blocked by tree trunks and overturned trucks, cars were washed out to sea and boats were shredded like matchsticks. Telecommunications and electricity were severed in the worst-hit towns, while train service was disrupted and numerous roads and highways were closed, civil protection authorities said.

In Monterosso al Mare, one of the five medieval towns that make up the picturesque Cinque Terre, a popular tourist draw on the Italian Riviera, one video showed a muddy river sweeping through a street, the water lapping at the ground floors of the buildings. Angelo Betta, the mayor of Monterosso, said the rains had come fast and hard starting Tuesday night, causing five canals to overflow at the same time. “We need food, water, doctors, even toilets,” he told Italian television. Interviewed by the news media, residents of Monterosso, which is popular with hikers who trek from town to town along a 12-mile footpath offering breath-catching views, described apocalyptic scenes of scrambling to reach upper stories while water swirled into the town like a speeding train. The rains extended into Wednesday, causing more destruction. The Italian Army was sent in to assist civil protection rescue workers, and President Giorgio Napolitano said on television that climate change was the cause of the disaster. “This is the very painful price we are unfortunately paying,” he said.

Environmental groups also blamed unregulated construction and expressed concerns that government cutbacks to environmental protection agencies, a consequence of Italy’s budget and economic travails, had undermined efforts to better manage such catastrophes. Vittorio Cogliati Dezza, president of Legambiente, an Italian environmental organization, called on the government to restore financing to the Environment Ministry. He said preventive measures to strengthen geologically fragile areas were more economically sound than tackling emergencies, “which result in unsustainable costs for the population with no effective savings for public coffers.” The torrential rains were likely to become more common because of climate change, said Fausto Guzzetti, the director of a geological institute that is part of Italy’s National Research Council. A different issue, he said in an interview, was the impact that they had on infrastructure and towns, as a result of the often unregulated and widespread urban development that took place throughout Italy during the postwar boom. What happened in Tuscany and Liguria, he said, “should not have happened, but it did because we have built in places where we should not have built. Now it is too late, and we are paying the consequences.”

Speaking from Aulla, in the province of Massa Carrara, one of the worst-hit towns where two people died, Enrico Rossi, the president of the Tuscany region, said in an interview on Italian television that future construction would be blocked in the areas afflicted by the flooding and mudslides. “We must also examine what was done in the past and whether procedures were followed to the law,” he said. “It’s easy to say now that construction was done wrong and now we have a severe problem,” Mr. Guzzetti said. “Unfortunately, because of the current economy we don’t have the resources to fix it in the short term, which makes it even worse.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/world/europe/mudslides-and-flooding-ravage-areas-of-scenic-beauty-in-italy.html#h[VisVis]

[Snowangel-MK]

More photos of the terrible devastation here...

http://photoblog.msn...-havoc-in-italy

and this is only the beginning of the traditional rain season...thoughts go out to all the people there!

[95 Degrees]

Italy is going through a tough time currently both socially with these floods and economically with Eurozone issues, hope they find their way again as they have done so much for the world.

[Aaron]

Agreed, Italy is a great country despite its problems..

[Coast]

The aftermath of the floods has revealed some extensive damage to homes infrastructure and property:

[chionomaniac]

More photos of the terrible devastation here...

http://photoblog.msn...-havoc-in-italy

and this is only the beginning of the traditional rain season...thoughts go out to all the people there!

I agree it must be terrible for anyone caught up in flooding.

Amazing how a new river has formed down the middle of the street. I do hope the barbers survived because the chap in first photo needs to get there quick.

[picog]

Amazing how a new river has formed down the middle of the street. I do hope the barbers survived because the chap in first photo needs to get there quick.

Doesn't he just!

[John_Griffiths]

Yet more flooding in nw Italy yesterday. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15602121

This probably isn't the last of it for the weekend either as the rain is set to continue through the weekend.

[Coast]

At least 6 dead, very bad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgUsK2mrbKk